CHAPTER II. FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP Franklin Township was organized February 25, 1828, from territory taken from Meigs Township, and at the time of its organization included what is now Bratton Township. It takes its name from America's wisest patriot Benjamin Franklin. Surface and Soil. The western portion of this township is comparatively level, except bordering the narrow streams which have cut deep furrows in the surface. This section is drained into the Fast Fork of Ohio Brush Creek. The eastern portion of the township is hilly and in places mountainous, and the soil is poor and unproductive except along the narrow valleys of the streams. This section is drained to the southeastward by the tributaries of the North Fork of Scioto Brush Creek. A large scope of territory in the vicinity of Locust Grove and to the northward of it, at one time in the geological past sunk so as to put the shale and Waverly sandstone in the geological plane of the cliff limestone. Hence shale and sandstone outcrops in the channels of the tributaries of Crooked Creek, while a short distance to the eastward these strata occupy a plane from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet higher. Early Settlers. Peter Platter, Peter Wickerham, James Horn, James Boyd, Aaron Freeman, Robert Farl, William Pemberton, William Ogle, George Heller, Jesse Wetherington, John Evans, and John Chapman were among the pioneers of this region. Platter and Wickerham came in 1797 or 98 and the following year Wickerham opened a tavern at what is now known as Palestine then on the line of Zane's Trace. Afterwards James Horn, who lived a mile north of Wickerham's on the Trace, opened a tavern where a is public house was kept for many years. Wickerham built the first brick house in this region in 1805. It is now used as a dwelling by one of his descendants. Villages and Postoffices. LOCUST GROVE is the only village in the township. Curtis Cannon in 1805 kept a tavern on the site of the residence of the late Jesse Kendall. He also carried on a tannery, the first in this region. Afterwards, in 1830, his son Urban W. Cannon built a hotel and planted a grove of locusts opposite the hotel recently conducted by D. S. Eylar, where he had a flourishing trade in the days of the old stage coach line from Maysville to Chillicothe. In 1835 he laid out a town about the site of his hotel, which he named Locust Grove, and a postoffice was established bearing the same name. (415) 416 - HISTORY OF AD AMS COUNTY Churches. The first church organized in this township was the old Covenanter at Palestine, a history of which we give below from the pen of Rev. W. M. Glasgow, of Beaver Falls, Pa. The old log house stood on the old Wickerham farm now belonging to the heirs of Stephen Reynolds. It was afterwards removed to Palestine and used for a blacksmith shop. This congregation was known as Brush Creek church, and originally worshiped on West Fork near the bridge over that stream on the Tranquillity pike and opposite the residence of W. O. McCreight. Brush Creek. Reformed Presbyterian Congregation. The Reformed Presbyterian, or Scotch Covenanter Church, is the lineal descendant and true representative of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland in her purest days. This chu:ch has never been guilty of schism, but holds tenaciously to all the attainments of that historic body. Because the Covenanters held to the Word of God, and to the belief that it taught the "moral personality and accountability of nations to God, thousands of these pious Christians were martyred in Scotland in the seventeenth century under the bloody house of the Stewarts. Many were banished to the Colonies, and others found a welcome asylum on these American shores. The first society was formed near Harrisburg, Pa., in 1720. In 1743, led by the Rev. Alexander Craighead, they renewed their ancient covenants ; and, with uplifted swords, declared their civil and ecclesiastical independence of Great Britain. In 1774, they received an organization as a distinct body of Christians in this country, and have come down to the present day as the sole church of the Scottish Reformation. Applying their Scriptural principles to the Constitution of the United States, in 1789, and not finding in this creed of the nation any reference to the supreme authority of God in civil government, or to Jesus .Christ as the King of Kings and the Governor among the nations ; or to the word of God as the higher and supreme law for nations as well as men, Covenanters have uniformly dissented from the civil establishments, and for the honor of their Savior-King forego the privileges and emoluments of office holding in this land. But they are not traitors or revolutionists. They dissent and separate from that which is wrong in civil government, and encourage by way of reformation all that tends to bring our national life of Jesus Christ and his law as fundamentally necessary to a rightly constituted government. They are peaceable citizens, pay their taxes cheerfully as a moral obligation, and bear arms heroically in every national contest. As early as 1801, a few families of these Covenanters had come from Scotland and Ireland, and some from Kentucky, and settled along Brush Creek. Among these was James Reid, the grandfather of Hon. Whitelaw Reid, who came from Kentucky in 1804. Others settled further north on Paint Creek, and in Highland and Ross Counties, even as far as Chillicothe. They at once established the "Society," which was a meeting for prayer and conference. Between the years of 1809 and 1814 they were subsequently visited by the Rev. John Kell, and other itinerate missionarys. After 1814 they were supplied by the Rev. Robert Wallace. They were organized into a congregation called "Chillicothe" (because that was the nearest postoffice), October II, 1815. The first bench of ruling elders FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP - 417 consisted of John French, Hugh Hardy and John Wickerham. For six years after their organization Mr. Wallace continued to supply them occasionally with preaching. Rev. Charles Brown McKee became their first pastor, being ordained and installed on August 7, 1821. He resigned the pastorate on September 10, 1822, to accept a call to Cincinnati. For five years the congregation was vacant, although frequently supplied and increased in numbers and influence. In 1822, William Milligan ; and, in 1825, Joseph Thompson were inducted into the office of ruling elder. Rev. James Blackwood was installed as the second pastor, April 12, 1827, but he only remained two years. In 1828, Andrew Burns and William Glasgow were ordained elders. On July 7, 1829, the name of the congregation was changed to "Brush Creek," as most of the people now resided along this stream and in Adams County. This name it ever afterward continued to bear. Rev. David Steele was ordained and installed as the third pastor, June 24, 1831. He had several places of preaching, one being at Mill Creek, in Kentucky. During his pastorate (in 1833)" the whole church passed through a division on the question of their civil relations, but Brush Creek congregation was little affected by this trouble. In. 1840, Mr. Steele regarded his church as unfaithful to her covenanted engagements, and he, with elders 'William McKinley and Thomas Ralston and some of the members, withdrew to constitute a new organization called the "Reformed Presbytery." The elders still remaining in the original congregation were Andrew Burns, William Glasgow, Joseph Thompson, John Wickerham and Samuel Wright. On September 29, 1842, Rev. Robert Hutcheson was installed as the fourth pastor of Brush Creek congregation. In 1845, Francis Gailey, a suspended licentiate of the church, led away some of the people into an organization of his own called the "Safety League." Among these latter defectionists were elders Joseph Thompson and John Wickerham. As the session had been strengthened in 1842 by the addition of Stephen Bayles, Henry George, John McIntire and J. Thompson Montgomery, the congregation did not lose its organization and but few of its members. By emigration and death the congregation became so weakened in resources that Mr. Hutcheson resigned the pastorate May 21, 1856, and the congregation was declared disorganized October 11, 1857. For twenty-five years it continued in this condition, although a few Covenanters continued to reside in that vicinity, and to hold occasional society meetings. The Brush Creek congregation was reorganized under an act of the Lakes Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, November 16, 1881. There were thirty-three members enrolled, and Thomas Davis and Daniel Sharp were chosen elders. In 1883, William C. Ralston was added to the session. They never possessed a settled pastor, but enjoyed the stated labors of Revs. R. J. Sharpe, William McKinney, R. C. Allen, T. C. Sproull, and others. The membership is now about twenty-five ; Daniel Sharp and W. C. Ralston are the elders ; and this faithful remnant hold fast to the principles and usages of their martyred ancestry. Among the most prominent families which have composed the Brush Creek congregation of Covenanters might be perpetuated the names of Reid, Burns, 418 - HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY Glasgow, Milligan, Stevenson, Hemphill, Montgomery, Wright, Thompson, Wickerham, McKinley, Torrence, Foster, Mitchell, Copeland, Bayles, George, Ralston, Fulton, McIntire and many other worthies. The following is a register of the pastors and office-bearers of this historic congregation of Covenanters : Register of the Session.